If your organization fails to stay ahead of the trends within its industry on a consistent basis, you will run into frequent problems. In the accounting industry, running into problems leads to thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. This makes it crucial that you and your organization understand the common symptoms involved with an outdated accounting software solution.

1. POOR REMOTE CONNECTIVITY

In today's world, the healthiest small business owners and managers utilize real-time accounting and bookkeeping technology for all of their accounting needs. Software as a Service (SaaS) accounting systems are trending within the industry, though they don't usually offer the same functionality as desktop software their modulation capabilities allow companies to manage their accounts specifically to their clients' needs.

2. YOUR BOSS DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON

Most of the time, a lack of communication is the reason why your boss doesn't know what is going on within their organization. This lack of communication can be sourced directly to your accounting software because if it's an outdated practice it is likely clunky in nature, making it harder to communicate clear business goals to your boss.

Suspense accounts accumulating balances during the period that have to be reconciled

Waiting for information (e.g. bank statements)

Transactions that are booked one way during the month, but have to be adjusted at month end

Differences in intercompany accounts

Complex allocations or variance calculations

4. MANUAL SPREADSHEETS ARE STILL IN USE

The conventional method of producing a particular type of report is to manually create spreadsheet reports. If your company still uses these, they are probably re-created every month rather than automatically.

5. REPORTS DON'T FIT YOUR BUSINESS

These days small businesses evolve at an extremely fast pace by adding new product lines, service offerings, and changing or adding locations. Often times this leads to them switching their focus, which could make it so that their accounting system is no longer effective for their changes.

6. CALCULATION ERRORS

If you notice that you are starting to see repeated report errors in your tax calculations, margin percentages, and inventory turnover you should evaluate your current account software. These are all glaring red flags that could cost you a ton of money both long term and short term.

7. LACK OF BUDGET

Budgets are a huge part of conducting business efficiently and if you aren't budgeted to spend an annual amount on keeping your accounting system up-to-date, you will quickly accumulate a massive deficit. Software developers consistently push out new versions and updates on a yearly basis and it's important that you budget for those changes in order to keep up.

8. MANAGEMENT TENSION

If you notice that your management team is consistently debating over the direction of your business rather than the accuracy of reporting, it's time to evaluate your outdated accounting system.

If you don't know whether or not your current accounting software solution is outdated, think deeply about the signs that we've just given you to evaluate your current situation. Accounting practices and software are things that should not be taken lightly as they help you manage your most valuable accounts and ultimately lead to getting you paid.

Self-pay is an additional burden for hospitals that are already struggling to reduce costs and increase revenue. Increasing efforts toward collecting past due medical debts on is a necessary process that many hospitals who have limited resources cannot afford to do on their own. Luckily, there are is a plethora of affordable outside services that can aid in this process, many of which are cloud-based.

2018 is upon us and as many accounting businesses prepare for the new year, it's important to understand some of the biggest industry trends. If you take a look back at the accounting trends in 2017, the majority of them were surrounding cloud-based and automated solutions. So, what are some of the changes that we can expect to see in 2018? Have the trends changed much? Well, the short answer is no. But continue reading if you'd like to know the accounting trends for 2018.

Cloud computing and cloud-based solutions aren't the next best thing, they are already here and this movement is largely being driven by end users and tech shops. This has created a micro-management mess for many companies. In a large study, Symantec found that the average number of cloud apps in use in various industries was 926. As more cloud-based solutions become available and utilized, companies need to implement streamlined processes that make the integration and implementation phase easier. Defining this process has now largely fallen in the hands of the CFO largely because of how these solutions effect OpEx and CapEx.

It's not uncommon for organizations to struggle with their accounts receivable management. Although the account helps you realize your revenue, it's hard to fully grasp its many concepts. The bottom line is that improper accounts receivable management will lead to less income. In fact, according to 43% of small businesses have customers who are more than 90 days past due on payments and that will lead to serious losses in their income. According to a study conducted by Atradisu Payment Practices Barometer found that that businesses lose as much as 53 percent of the value of their receivables if they are not paid within 90 days of their due date. It's important that you understand how vital it is for your company to stay on top of its accounts receivable, here are 7 ways to improve your accounts receivable management.

According to Healthcare Finance, healthcare consumers are now responsible for 30% to 35% of their healthcare bill. Since patient payment and collection practices are consistently becoming more complex, deductibles have also continued to rise. Furthermore, collection costs are much higher for patients as compared to payer collection. Both of these factors have lead to the evolution of patients being the primary payer source. Although patients are now the primary payer source, let's face it, they have a lot going on and paying their bill is not a top priority.

Hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers are constantly searching for new ways to decrease bad debt and maximize their reimbursement. As they continue this process, it's imperative that they can identify which patients are true self-pay and which patients are self-pay after insurance. If they are self-pay after insurance they will have a high-deductible plan and still owe a large sum of money after coverage.

The healthcare industry is in the midst of a huge change with its patient collection programs. This change is causing strides towards designing sophisticated and patient-friendly programs that increase transparency, improve user experience, and minimize pressure from the IRS. These programs help hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers offer easy-to-understand patient statements and front-end eligibility help. Furthermore, the real-time analytics that these solutions provide make it easier to comprehend entire portfolios from the click of a button. However, if an organization fails to realize this trend they will fall behind. Below we've listed ways that healthcare organizations can survive the changing self-pay patient landscape.

An average of 32% of practices’ revenue stream comes from patient responsibilities. This means that recovering on your self-pay patient balances is more important now than it has ever been in the past and it shows no signs of slowing in importance. In fact, 33% of respondent hospitals, receivables are growing faster than patient revenue. How can organizations, specifically those that work within the pharmaceutical industry, manage their recovery process without losing an excessive amount of employee effort?

In case you didn't know, Millennials are classified as the age group that was born between 1980 and early 2000s. As they have started to enter the workforce, many Millennials have already established successful businesses, and 67% of the generation cohort want to start their own business. But, like most small business owners, Millennials are starting to run into a few major challenges that are inevitable.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the United States economy because of their ability to innovate their industry landscapes. However, it's not uncommon for small business owners to feel overwhelmed due to the number of problems they have to face on a daily basis. Below we've listed the 3 biggest accounting problems small businesses face.